Wataru Ishii is a Corporate Affiliates Visiting Fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2009–10 and 2010–11. He is chief staff of the International Relations Division of Shizuoka Prefecture Government (SPG) in Japan where he has worked for the past 20 years. Before joining Shorenstein APARC, he worked in several departments of SPG, including taxation, tourism promotion, and public relations. He graduated from Kanazawa University with a BA in liberal arts.